The lighting industry has increasingly looked to develop more efficient and reliable light fixtures. These efforts have led to the development of light fixtures utilizing Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) as light sources. LEDs used for interior lighting are typically high output devices which, at the same time, allow for precise control of the intensity of light emitted by the various LEDs and overall color of a light fixture.
LEDs differ from other types of light sources (e.g., incandescent, fluorescent, High Intensity Discharge (HID), etc.) in that LEDs use much less energy, and the LEDs themselves have a very long lifespan and control of the light emanating from an LED can be tightly controlled.
However, unlike other types of light sources, LED lighting systems require the use of a more specialized power supply to convert AC power to DC power to drive the LEDs. These LED power supplies have been designed to provide a “constant voltage” or a “constant current” to the LEDs.
The majority of LED light fixtures are fabricated by connecting a plurality of LEDs together (in series or parallel) to form a group of LEDs. Where the LEDs use a “constant current” driver, a “constant voltage” power supply is typically used. When a group of LEDs does not use a “constant voltage” driver, a power supply that provides a “constant current” is typically utilized.
While the reliability of LEDs is relatively high when compared to other types of conventional lighting fixtures, the LED lighting industry has struggled to create a comparably reliable power supply for use with LED light fixtures. So LED power supplies are often a point of failure of LED lighting systems, and when a power supply fails, entire groups of LEDs go dark.
Thus, there remains a need for an LED lighting system that provides a more reliable LED power supply.